Thursday, August 12, 2010

Ella is 4 months old! It is amazing how quickly time has passed. These past 17 weeks have flown by and yet I think back to being 17 weeks pregnant and how slowly that same amount of time dragged. It's strange how time works that way!We found out we were expecting Ella a year ago on August 2. I've been thinking about how much has changed from August of last year to August of this year. Back then I knew our lives would change, but I just couldn't grasp exactly how it would change other than the obvious - a baby in the house. I never knew what I was in for and just how very much I would love this little girl. I never knew how infinite and awesome this type of love is. It has changed me so much in ways I never could have imagined and I thank God every day that I have been given this beautiful experience. Ella has changed a lot in the past month. She is interacting so much more and is so aware of her surroundings. She loves to be talked to. She also loves to listen to music or be sung to. Her particular favorites these days are "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds." She usually likes to be read to and will stare intently at the pictures and try to grab at the book. She enjoys playing in her exersaucer and likes to sit in her Bumbo seat on top of the kitchen table while we eat meals. She seems to think it's really neat to be a part of that and sit and smile and "talk" to us while we eat. She loves to grab her feet and stuff toys or her hands in her mouth and she now drools constantly. Since her surgery, she has become attached to a Winnie the Pooh security blanket. At Ella's 4-month checkup, she got 3 more vaccines. She was such a good girl for them. Her pediatrician commented on how inquisitive Ella seemed - how she was watching very intently to see what was being done to her. Ella now weighs 12 pounds and is 24 inches long. Now that she is on Prevacid and the hypoallergenic formula, her weight jumped from 10th percentile to 20th percentile! We are supposed to keep her on this formula until she is 6 months old and then we can see if she can handle a cheaper formula. Let's hope she can!:) We also got the okay to start her on solid food, but we are going to wait until she is 5 months old. Since she has been so sensitive to regular dairy and soy formulas and to skincare products, we figure we'll give her a little extra time before we introduce foods to her, especially since she is doing so well on this formula right now. We are looking forward to that next stage of baby food though!Another new thing this month was our transition to cloth diapers! I have wanted to try them from the start, but Dave was against it and since I don't know many people that do use them and therefore assumed they would be a nuisance, I never pushed the idea. After reading a very informative article in Mothering Magazine last month, I decided to make the jump and do a trial of cloth diapers. The article gave some disturbing facts about ingredients that are found in today's disposables and how these ingredients in Pampers, Luvs, and other mainstream diaper companies are not allowed to be disclosed, nor are there any material safety data sheets available. Tests on the diapers have shown that whatever these ingredients are, they give off toxic fumes. When the article listed things that I recognized from work, I knew I had to look into an alternative. I didn't feel right putting something against Ella's skin that gives off the same VOCs and SVOCs that the guys at my work test for and work to eliminate at Air Force bases. Granted, I know the levels in diapers are quite different from the levels my coworkers are dealing with, but regardless, I don't think it can be good. After talking to Dave about this, he was on board too. Switching to cloth has been a great decision and I'm glad I didn't wait any longer to try them! We tried several brands and varieties of cloth diapers through a trial with Jillian's Drawers and decided that we like the BumGenius 4.0 AIOs best(www.cottonbabies.com). They are easy to use, cute, and comfy for Ella. Out of all the diapers we tried, they seemed to hold up the best. It is so nice that the diapers we chose grow with her so we don't have to replace diapers due to her outgrowing them. The BumGenius colors, particularly the pastels, are so cute. Not only are we now a fan of the BumGenius diapers, but we love their diaper spray and laundry detergent as well. On top of all that, I have been very pleased with their customer service, especially after we had our diaper spray leak during shipping. We are still using disposables at daycare, but are trying out the Seventh Generation diapers since they list all of their ingredients and are eco-friendly.And now for some pictures of Ella:)